The last time you drove into your garage, were you required to open the car door a gingerly crack and to slither through it to avoid banging into bikes, and long-forgotten lacrosse sticks, and camping equipment, and a broken toaster oven you keep meaning to fix, and cans of dried-out house paint, and the extra refrigerator door shelves you never used but are saving just in case?

The best solution—the real, long-term, honest-to-God answer—would be to get rid of all that stuff. Give it away, donate it, sell it on Craig's List. (Except the bikes.) But maybe you aren't ready for that. Speaking as a person whose garage harbors a cardboard box full of Girl Scout memorabilia circa 1973, I understand your hesitancy to part with things you may need 40 years from now.

A short-term fix is what we're after. And that brings me to the subject of storage and organization—starting with sturdy, customizable, and generously sized shelves:

Above: Available in many configurations from Crate & Barrel, MAX modular shelves have chrome steel frames and adjustable steel wire shelves. A 6-Shelf Unit is $199.95 and a 3-Shelf Unit is $99.95.

Go out to the garage with a tape measure and a piece of graph paper and a pencil with a nice sharp point, and figure out the layout that will work for you. The MAX modular units are from 15.75 to 16 inches deep and come in varying heights and widths.